Alongside Fukuoka
Weather: sunny, warm

The wndvane would appear to be sorted, as anticipated, at a price.  Deaths and taxes etc. It should be here tomorrow.

This morning I painted the poop deck, and I spent the afternoon trying to track down a new HF SSB radio receiver. I visited three shops, two of which had the radio on display but none had any in stock, and to order one in would take about two weeks. I found this really odd. I am sure I could walk into almost any Dick Smith store in Australia and buy one, or at worst have one in a few days, but I get the impression that in Japan, a country of some 127 million people, there is only one unit available in the entire nation's inventory. I reckon this is taking the “just in time” philosophy of inventory management just a tad too far. I was not expecting this problem, nor was I expecting it to be so expensive. I am not sure what the solution is but I suspect it is to make do without it. Bother! I am not at all comfortable with having to rely only on grib files via satphone for my weather forecasts.

Rain is forecast for tomorrow so I will spend much of it chasing up a permit to visit some closed ports on our way north to Hokkaido.

All is well.